LAS VEGAS -- U-Gas, home of GiGi’s Café Express, and Tri Star Services’ Twice Daily, two regional convenience-store chains, have signed on to expand healthier options across their stores as part of The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which works with the private sector and PHA Honorary Chair First Lady Michelle Obama to make healthier choices easier for consumers.
Fenton, Mo.-based U-Gas, which has 35 c-stores in Missouri and Illinois, and Nashville, Tenn.-based Tri Star/Twice Daily, which has 221 c-stores in Tennessee and Kentucky, have committed to maintain and build upon healthy food choices; continue to make those choices more affordable; and support healthier options through in-store marketing and promotions to meet the needs of the children, families and communities they serve.
“Half of the U.S. population visits a convenience store every single day, and more and more, they’re looking for healthier options, which are also more profitable for business,” said PHA CEO Lawrence A. Soler. “As consumer demand continues its shift toward health, U-Gas and Twice Daily are stepping up to ensure their customers have access to those healthier, more affordable options whether they’re grabbing a snack or a meal to go.”
Over the next few years, U-Gas and Twice Daily will work with PHA to expand healthier food offerings, with more fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, healthier packaged foods and healthier made to order or grab-and-go options. These chains will also focus on in-store promotion of healthier products, as well as other tactics geared toward making the healthy choice the easy choice.
Also, in support of PHA’s Drink Up Initiative, both U-Gas and Twice Daily will add the Drink Up logo to all private-label water bottles and engage in other marketing activities to encourage more customers to drink water more often.
The companies made the announcement at the National Association of Convenience Stores’ 2015 NACS Show in Las Vegas.
Nearly 1,000 convenience stores have now committed to PHA to increase access to healthier foods in their stores. Other notable c-store chains include Vintners Distributors, Fremont Calif., Sheetz, Altoona, Pa., and Kwik Trip, La Crosse, Wis.
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation’s youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with – but independent from – First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! effort. PHA is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation’s most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased, third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making.
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